• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

Rovers v Posh

Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
There are some alarming similarities between our start this season and Barnes's entirely forgettable tenure: an imbalance in the side, shortage of defensive options, apparent lack of team spirit and ageing players on unrealistic contracts (Foster, Koumas). As I have said above, there are some mitigating circumstances but RM must have the biggest job of his managerial career on his hands in trying to turn things round. As suggested above, switching to 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 could plug some gaps and enable us to battle out a couple of results in the short term at least.
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
In some ways last season has made it difficult simply because the bar has been raised so much higher, and relegation was not even on the horizon before August!
Apart from the complete collapse last season, this was one of the worst things to have happened. It's true, we still look back to last season and remember how dominant we were for the first couple of months. We've just rolled straight from the end of last season to the start of this season. Unable to win a game.

RLC comments about the Barnes era brings back memories of the Leeds away game when we got slaughtered. Barnes promised building from the back, passing it around not giving the opposition a chance blah blah.. We didn't have the players to do it then and we certainly don't have them to do it now.

Whilst I agree our lack of a defensive midfielder is a problem, the problems on Saturday went far beyond the exclusion of a defensive midfielder.
What I hated most about Saturday was knowing that the game was over by half time. Sitting through 45 minutes of pointless football.
 
Joined
5 Oct 2006
Messages
776
Player
Liam Palmer
If I could be bothered to look up our record since the end of January '13 I could tell you that we have a manager living on borrowed time.

We have a completely unbalanced squad made up of kids and has beens waiting to get injured.

Ronnie's 442 approach simply doesn't work. Our opponents put an extra man in midfield and swamp us.

Please show me any evidence which suggests Ronnie can turn this around.

Not being provocative, just want answers.
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
It went tits up after we beat Brentford away 2-1.
We then lost 12 of the remaining 17 league games.

If you include this season, that's 15 defeats in 21 league games. Ouch!
 
Joined
3 Apr 2007
Messages
1,345
Player
Goodison
I don't think it's fair to say that Kirby isn't up to it considering he hasn't played a game yet. Ronnie gave him a new contract and frequently mentions him in his press conferences so he must rate him otherwise he's lying. I'd rather have him coming on than Koumas who probably wont be fit until April. As for Stockton v Sodje, Stockton showed last season he was a decent player and could score goals given the chance. He's also 19 rather than 33 so he's got potential and sell on value if he turns into a good player. If the money for Koumas and Sodje had been spent on a defensive midfielder and a centre back I think the side wouldn't seem quite so hopeless. Last season after the Brentford game, the team collapsed from midfield with Palmer going completely off form, whilst Power is an (understandbly at his age) inconsistent player. Rather than getting an extra midfielder, Ronnie recrutied the hopeless Sidibe. The centre of midfield is a long term problem that Ronnie has failed to address, unless he does I can see us going down.
 
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